The Atlanta District Attorney who charged a cop with murder for shooting a suspect armed with a taser – despite calling a taser a “deadly weapon” weeks before – lost his re-election bid.
Paul Howard was defeated by his former staff member, Fani Willis, who won 73% of the vote.
Howard, who served as district attorney since 1997, sparked controversy in June when he decided to charge Officer Garret Rolfe with murder after shooting a suspect who pointed a taser at him while attempting to flee, even though weeks before, Howard said he considered a taser to be a “deadly weapon” in another police-related case.
According to a June 8 article by Atlanta’s WSB TV:
The city fired officers Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter the day after the incident in which two young people were shocked with a taser and pulled from their car downtown.
District Attorney Paul Howard issued arrest warrants for Gardner, Streeter and four other officers. In total, four of them were charged with aggravated assault, a serious felony.
Aggravated assault in Georgia is described as assault “with a deadly weapon or with any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury.”
During a news conference, Howard said “under Georgia law, a taser is considered a deadly weapon.”
I have a feeling this video of the DA in the Rayshard Brooks case claiming TWO WEEKS ago that a taser is a “deadly weapon” is going to be used by the defense in court.pic.twitter.com/NdcUlEadQN
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) June 17, 2020
Weeks later, he charged Wolfe with murder for shooting a suspect who grabbed a police taser and aimed it at officers.
“Howard appears to have jumped on the opportunity to prosecute Officer Rolfe in an attempt to boost his campaign and divert attention from investigation into his own criminal conduct, for allegations of self-dealing and sexual abuse,” wrote Town Hall’s Marina Medvin. “Fani Willis suggested that Howard used Officer Rolfe ‘clearly for his political benefit.'”
Howard fueled the controversy further by not involving the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in his decision to charge Rolfe despite the state agency having launched its own inquiry into the shooting.
The incoming DA said that while she doesn’t have a “plan to keep or drop the charges” against Wolfe, she said she would investigate the matter with a more nuanced approach in tune with the law and the GBI report.
“Without a doubt, the election of Fani Willis brought relief to Officer Rolfe, his family, and his defense team,” Medvin added. “There is finally hope that his case will be handled more objectively and more fairly.”
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